@ D'Amavir: I see your point, but I think you are pushing it too much. Even in the "good ole days" people liked the fact that in events special items were given out and participated much more joyful if they happened to get such a "rare" drop. New items are new content - that's for sure. However, there is surely the question of balancing things; and you are right when you state that 1) we indeed have a rat race concerning better/stronger items (see the influx of valo hammer crafted armor) and 2) it is much easier to just throw new items with new mods into the game compared to developing a new storyline/event line etc. etc.
However, we get a lot with this publish, covering different playstyles. I think it is much too harsh to state that "depth is lost on devs" based on merely two new item drops with new stats.
Two item drops? Hmmm. Let's see in the past few years what's been added to the game. First, what has been added to improve pvp and pvm? Not what items have been added for pvp or pvm. But what has been added to make them more fun, more balanced and less buggy? Hmm, I will give you some time to come up with something.
Now, what has been added to the game in regards to new 'items with new stats'? Just off the top of my head. Scrappers, Tomes, Axe of the Heavens, Serpent's Fang, runic hammers, runic kits, runic saws, Totem of the Void, Stat filled Talisman, Orny, Hat of the Magi, Sorc Armor, Knight's Armor, Scout's Armor, Eccru ring, Faerie Fire, Horselord, Armor of Fortune, Spirit of the Totem, Shadow Dancer Leggings, Tunic of Fire, Aegis, Ring of the Vile, Taskmaster, Staff of the Magi, Dryad Bow, Crimson Cincture.
I could go on but I think that I listed a couple more than two huh?
No one is saying that new items aren't important or that they aren't part of new content. But, they aren't A PART of new content, they ARE the new content. Add pixel crack all day, fine. But don't end it there. Add fun quests that the point of doing them is to have fun doing them. Not what boosted item du jour you can get from finishing it. Add items that aren't all about boosting your stats and making the perfect suit. Because we all know, next week your perfect suit will be in the same league as that invul leather armor you collected in 98.
Too many people fall for the dev's obfuscation. As long as they keep falling for it and don't ask for more, we won't get more. We will get the next round of boosted items. Of course I don't expect people on the uo supported board to actually admit that the uo team these days is not up to par. Shocking. But the fact remains that too much focus is on new items as opposed to fun content and deep content.
Why does everything that comes out have to have better and better stats? I would have been stoked to get one of those new books if they didn't have stats on them. Its a named item, that's cool. But the environment that EA has cultivated is one that having a named item isn't nearly enough for most people. It also has to have nasty stats on it. That's the issue. Not that there are items, but that the items are increasingly nasty and that focus is on coding those into the game and then farming them.
Like I said, I don't expect most people to actually get it. I am in the minority when it comes to this subject. Most people just smile and nod each time the dev team adds a new boosted item to the mix.
